The Lancers had a hiccup in the third quarter and it cost them against one of the WPIAL’s premier Class AAA teams.

Neshannock (2-1) entered the locker room with a 37-36 lead over Central Valley (3-0) after holding a nine-point lead earlier in the second quarter.

The Lancers went into a funk in the third quarter and saw their one-point lead dissipate into a 52-45 deficit.

“There was a spell there in the third quarter where we just made poor decisions,” Neshannock coach John Corey said. “Unfortunately when you play a good team like Central Valley, you have to string together 32 minutes. We played well for like 27 minutes (last) night. That won’t cut it against a quality opponent.

“I really think if our decision making was a little better in the third quarter, we could have put ourselves in a position to win the game. We just made bad decisions both offensively and defensively. Other than that, I was happy with how we played.”

Neshannock struggled mightily from behind the arc, making just 5-of-21 attempts.

“We’re a better shooting team that that,” Corey said.

Ernie Burkes led the Lancers with a game-high 22 points, while Matt McKinney contributed 13 points and seven rebounds. Ty Haswell was next with 10.

Jimmy Medure pulled down nine rebounds and Ethan Moose chipped in 12 rebounds, four steals and four assists for Neshannock.

“Our stat line looks pretty good,” Corey said. “We had more shots than them. We out rebounded them and we shot from 94 percent from the free throw line.”